DURHAM -- The Research Triangle Foundation, has acquired about 100 acres, price tag almost $18 million dollars, for a key piece of a new mixed use development.  It's being called the Park Center project. Bob Geolas, the President and CEO of the Foundation, tells us the actual project will be significantly larger.

Geolas said, "In this first phase, we have 100 acres. Of a site that we unveil will be a total of 409 acres. To give people a sense of scale, that's about half the size of Central Park in New York City. And this will give us a corridor of innovation within the park."

The project is bounded by I-40, Davis Drive, N.C. 54 and N.C. 147.  The Governor’s Inn and more than a dozen mostly vacant office buildings on the property, most of which have stood vacant for years, will be torn down in the months ahead.